Colorado courses figure prominently on national best-of lists published this week by Golfweek
By Gary Baines – 1/10/2024
National/international “best of” lists for golf courses have — naturally — expanded and evolved over time. A niche that started with a ranking of the best courses in America now includes all sorts of subsets.
Two such lists that were published this week are a good example of that as Golfweek posted its ranking of the top residential courses in the U.S., and the nation’s top resort courses.
In each case, there’s no shortage of Colorado courses that made the grade. Specifically, 10 from the Centennial State were included in the top 200 residential courses in the country, and five local layouts were in the top 200 resort courses.
It should be noted that on the best residential list, two Colorado courses made the top 15 — Colorado Golf Club in Parker (fourth) and Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock (13th), which will host the BMW Championship in August. Only three other states put two or more courses in the top 15: Wisconsin (3), North Carolina (2) and Montana (2).
One other tidbit: One Colorado course was included on both Gulfweek’s residential and resort course lists as RainDance National in Windsor, which opened 18 months ago, managed that.
Here are the Colorado courses on Golfweek’s top residential courses list, along with a notation of the overall top-ranked course on the list:
1. Wade Hampton Club in Cashiers, N.C.
Colorado Courses Included
4. Colorado Golf Club in Parker
13. Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock
80. Glacier Club Mountain Course in Durango
83. Redlands Mesa in Grand Junction
86. Frost Creek in Eagle
109. Flying Horse North Course in Colorado Springs
T132. Ravenna in Littleton
T132. Aspen Glen in Carbondale
169. Cherry Creek Country Club in Denver
191. RainDance National in Windsor
For the complete residential-course list, CLICK HERE.
And here are the Colorado courses on Golfweek’s top resorts courses rundown, again along with the No 1 pick in the category:
1. Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, Calif.
Colorado Courses Included
69. Red Sky Fazio Course in Wolcott
78. The Broadmoor’s East Course in Colorado Springs
T134. Red Sky Norman Course in Wolcott
T134. RainDance National in Windsor
169. The Broadmoor’s West Course in Colorado Springs
For the complete resorts-course list, CLICK HERE.
About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. He was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com